The Aragon round begins immediately with good news: Toprak Razgatlioglu not only tried to get on track in the first free practice session, but also received the OK to continue the weekend. The injury now seems (almost) behind us, considering that the championship leader returned in style, setting the best time of the morning. However, closing Friday with the fastest time in the combined classification was Garrett Gerloff, who confirmed BMW’s great growth by placing himself at the top of the timesheets at the end of the second free practice session.
With a time of 1’49”017, the American from the Bonovo team wins Friday, but it’s a BMW double, because just 4 thousandths of a second away we find Razgatlioglu. Despite appearing tired at the end of the second free practice session, the Turk sends an important message to his rivals and, after dominating the morning session (giving well over four and a half tenths to Gerloff), he takes the second fastest time in the combined session.
The fight for the World Championship got to the heart of the first day of the Aragon round, because Nicolò Bulega is hot on Toprak’s heels. Not only in the championship, where he is now 13 points behind, but also in the combined: the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team rider ends Friday with the third fastest time, 132 thousandths behind his direct rival in the championship. The rookie leads a group of three Ducatis, which however remain further away from the top.
Alvaro Bautista, also responsible for a small harmless crash, placed himself in fourth position, paying two tenths of a second from Gerloff. The reigning world champion is chasing, but he will have to keep an eye on because in the decisive moment he always manages to find the paw and, even on this Friday, he is not too far away. Danilo Petrucci follows, fifth. The rider from Terni arrives at Aragon on the strength of the hat-trick he won in Cremona last weekend and continues to show himself competitive, finishing two and a half tenths away as the best independent.
Friday in Aragon was anything but easy for the riders, forced to face strong winds which also led to several crashes. Many occurred especially in the afternoon session and the red flag was displayed half an hour from the end to fix the track after yet another crash which left debris. Among the riders who crashed was Xavi Vierge, who ended up in the gravel of Turn 2 after a contact with Marvin Fritz. However, the Spaniard manages to bring the Honda up to sixth position. A result that confirms the excellent sensations of Cremona is also that of Iker Lecuona, ninth with the other CBR1000 RR-R.
Behind Vierge we find Andrea Iannone, seventh on the Goeleven team’s Ducati. The rider from Vasto is already half a second from the top and precedes the other independent Panigale V4R of Sam Lowes. The Briton from the Marc VDS team crashed a violent highside before the red flag, but luckily managed to get back on track and bring his bike back to the pits. Remaining at Ducati, this Friday is a missed opportunity for Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who at the end is on the verge of completing a great lap that allows him to take the lead, but an error causes him to remain in 13th position.
Closing the top 10 we find Michael van der Mark, who with the official BMW pays a gap of 535 thousandths from the leader of the day Gerloff. You have to scroll through the rankings to find the Yamahas and Kawasakis: the first of the R1s is that of Remy Gardner, 11th. The Australian from the GRT team precedes Jonathan Rea, who returned after the stop in Cremona due to a fractured thumb. The official standard bearer finished in 14th position ahead of Andrea Locatelli, 16th.
Difficulties also for the “verdona”, with Alex Lowes who, after traveling in the leading positions, did not go beyond the 12th time. His teammate Axel Bassani is even 15th, nine and a half tenths behind the top. The first to go beyond the second gap from Friday’s leader is Scott Redding, who pays 1,370 seconds behind teammate Gerloff.
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